Tariffs could soon be lifted by U.S.; Canada wants answers on canola ban in China

There are signs the U.S. is going to lift the steel and aluminum tariffs that President Donald Trump slapped on Canadian imports during trade talks last year.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the U.S. is close to an understanding with Canada and Mexico as it looks to get the new NAFTA deal ratified. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland raised the issue Wednesday as she met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington before meetings on Capitol Hill.

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau used a G20 ministers’ meeting in Japan to press her Chinese counterpart for the evidence behind Beijing’s bans on Canadian canola.

China has stonewalled requests for Canadian experts to travel to the People’s Republic to examine Chinese evidence that two canola shipments had pests. This is part of the escalating tension following the December arrest in Vancouver of Huawei Technologies’ CFO.

Canada supporting push to get extremists off the internet

French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have the backing of Canada and a dozen other countries in their push to get extremists off the internet.

Macron told a meeting in Paris Wednesday that the fact Prime Minister Trudeau attended shows that Canada is truly committed to the idea of having public order online. Facebook, Google and Twitter have all promised to find ways to keep internet platforms from being used to spread hate, organize extremist groups and broadcast terror attacks.

B.C. government to hold public inquiry into money laundering

B.C. Premier John Horgan’s government is going to hold a public inquiry into money laundering.

It says the problem is bigger and more entrenched than it thought. One report that came out last week estimated 7.4-billion-dollars in illegal cash was laundered in B.C. last year.